


Problems

by Zylo



Series: Moments In Time [5]
Category: Atop the Fourth Wall, That Guy with the Glasses/Channel Awesome, The Spoony Experiment
Genre: M/M, Non-Graphic Violence
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-07-12
Updated: 2017-07-12
Packaged: 2018-12-01 02:16:51
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,389
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11476506
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Zylo/pseuds/Zylo
Summary: Everyone has problems sometimes, some are less mundane than others.





	Problems

1\. Drink

"You're a clingy drunk."  
Insano looked up from his coffee at Spoony and raised an eyebrow. "Excuse me?"  
Spoony smirked, "You heard me. You're also a lightweight."  
Groaning, Insano put his coffee down, "...Alright, what happened yesterday night? I remember having a drink and nothing past that."  
"Like I said, you're a lightweight. A few drinks and you were drunk off your ass, clinging to me while ranting about how "Linkara may have stolen Neutro from you but you wouldn't let him steal me too."  By now, Spoony was clearly amused while Insano just put his head in his hands, trying to ignore the heat rising to his face.  
"Please, _PLEASE_ , tell me my son didn't see me acting like that."  
Spoony patted him on the back, "Don't worry, SWS put Soi to bed before you started getting tipsy."

2.  I'm here

Wayne blinked as his vision came into focus. As he took in his surroundings, all he could see was the dead and the dying, blood flowing through the streets as if part of a river. Looking up, the once blue sky was now darkened by smoke and ash as nearby fires raged uncontrollably. Feeling something tug at his pant leg, Wayne glanced down and saw what he could only describe as a zombie. Panicking, he stumbled backwards, right into something. Turning around, Wayne could only scream as this other zombie went to bite him.

  
"Wayne! Wayne! Wake up, you're having a nightmare!" Wayne bolted upright as soon as he felt someone shaking him. Breathing heavily, he looked around in a panic. It was then that he felt someone hugging him, a familiar feeling in an unfamiliar place. Turning to look at who was there with him, Wayne felt tears gather at the corner of his eyes. "O-Oscar? Where are we?"  
Linksano pulled back slightly to look at his brother, "Yes Wayne, it's me. We're at an apartment, in my room. After getting your letter, I wasted no time in tracking you down...and it's a good thing I did. When we found you, you were laying unconscious in an alleyway."  
"We?"  
"Boffo and I," Linksano explained, "he's someone very special to me. You can meet him and the rest of the team once you're feeling better. The last time I checked your temperature, you had a low fever. That very well may have been the cause of your nightmare."

  
Wayne layed back down and took several shaky breaths , "Oscar...do me a favor and just...stay here for now? I don't want to be alone again."  
Stroking his brother's hair in an effort to calm him, Linksano sat down on a chair he placed next to the bed. "You're not alone, Wayne, I'm here now. I'm here and...and I'm sorry for leaving our home dimension without so much as a word to you."  
"S'okay," Wayne mumbled as he started to feel sleep creeping up on him, "just happy you're still alive."

3\. Test

"I thought you said I'd meet your friends once I was better."  
Linksano looked up from his clipboard at his brother, "And you will. But right now I need to run some tests."  
Wayne raised an eyebrow, "What kind of tests? Wait, this better not be like that time where I got electrocuted by one of your inventions."  
Linksano sighed at his brother's attempt at humor, "You never were good at being humorous on purpose."  
"Hey!"

  
Shaking his head, Linksano got the conversation back on track. "Wayne, have you noticed anything...different about yourself? With your eyesight perhaps?"  
Wayne stared in confusion, "Not really? I mean, staying alive long enough to escape our dimension was basically the only thing on my mind at that point."  
"Wayne, my computer is picking up residual damage around your left eye socket. It is almost healed but quite frankly, I'm concerned regardless. What happened?"  
"I got hit with a glass bottle. The guy was trying to make a Molotov Cocktail but he realized he didn't have any of the stuff needed and he panicked," Wayne sighed at Oscar's shocked expression, "I meant what I said in my letter; about the world collapsing around me. If I'm going to tell the whole story, I need a strong drink while I do it."

4\. Guilty

"How the hell am I guilty for Kickassia failing?! You and the others are the ones that staged a damn coup against me!"  
"We wouldn't have staged a coup if you didn't go off the deep end and threatened to blow the place sky high with dynamite!" Linkara yelled at Critic, who was once again donned in that M. Bison suit, ready to get back to his dream of rebuilding Kickassia.  
"You weren't supposed to find out about that until needed!" Critic was fuming at this point, "And I still say it was for Kickassia's safety! People would have to be really fucking stupid to mess with a micro-nation that has twenty tons of dynamite at their disposal!"

  
Linkara let out an aggravated sigh, "Look, I have a review to film. Did you come here just to rant about Kickassia again?"  
"I wouldn't be ranting if you'd just admit you were wrong in taking part in that coup!" Critic then crossed his arms, "I demand an apology for that."  
Rolling his eyes, Linkara spoke, "I refuse to apologize for that and I'm pretty sure the others would agree with me. Now, if you're going to continue throwing a temper tantrum like a child, then please leave."  
Critic growled, "And if I don't?"  
"Then I'll have Nimue teleport you out of here."

5\. Blood

It had started when he came across a group of thugs cornering some poor guy in an alley. Call him crazy for intervening, he knew his brother probably would, but he was not going to just let some innocent person get the crap beat out of them. So he confronted them, wannabe biker punks with broken bottles and pipes in their hands, four people in all.

  
After everything he went through, it didn't take too much effort to send them fleeing. Of course, he was not without his own injuries. Those guys were lucky enough to get some slashes with the bottles in, not that he really noticed it in the heat of the moment. It was only when the person he saved asked him if he was alright, mentioned that his arms were bleeding.

  
The person he saved insisted on returning the favor by taking care of the wounds. At first, he turned down the offer, saying he was fine. He could tell from the other man's expression that he didn't want to be left alone at the time, not that he would actually say it out loud. As such, he relented and he was led to the man's home. According to him, his housemates weren't home at the time. That's how he ended up at some stranger's place, his arms covered in cuts.

  
As the man wrapped gauze around the cuts, he looked up nervously, "I-uh...I forgot to say back there - thanks for helping me."  
"It was no trouble. Those punks won't be bothering anybody again."  
Oddly, the man seemed even more nervous now, "I hope so...those guys - they've been after me for a while..."  
Narrowing his eyes, he spoke, "If they do come back, let me know. I can't stand bastards who terrorize others."  
"...Thank you, Mr. ...?"  
"Wayne Schlumper."  
Nodding his head, the man stood up and offered his hand out, "Thank you then, Mr. Schlumper."  
Wayne took his hand and shook it, "What's your name?"  
"Leslie Striker."

6\. Save

"What the hell did you do?! Create a Terminator?!" SWS ducked out of the way as a metal fist flew towards him, leaving a dent in the lab's wall. Said fist belonged to a humanoid robot Insano was working on.  
"It was supposed to act as my assistant down here! I didn't expect something to go wrong with the A.I. of all things!" Insano yelled as the robot grabbed his arm and twisted it around his back.  
" _Let. Him. Go._ " With a growl, SWS grabbed one of Insano's extra blasters he had stashed in the lab and shot the robot repeatedly. While it did cause the robot to drop Insano to the ground, its attention was now focused back on SWS. Blast after blast was did nothing more than slow it down at this point. "Insano, you really need to up the fire power on these damn things..."  
"Just keep it distracted long enough for me to find the deactivation remote!"  
"Fine but if you can't find it, then this robot is getting destroyed if it's the last thing I do!"

  
Or get thrown up against the wall by said robot in this case. The blaster lied uselessly at the robot's feet. Pain was shooting through SWS' head and back at this point and he struggled desperately to escape his opponent's iron grip. As his mind raced, he swore he heard Insano yelling to someone.  
"Hey fuckface."  
The robot let SWS go and turned to who called it that. Spoony was standing there, Gunblade pointed at it. Identifying him as a new threat, the robot charged at him. Spoony merely took aim and once it was close enough, he fired the weapon, effectively turning the robot into nothing more than scrap metal.

7\. Concern

"Are you sure you're alright?"  
Insano looked over at Spoony, who looked right back at him with a concerned expression. "My arm will be rather sore for a few days but nothing feels broken. If anything, I'm more concerned about-"  
"I'll be fine once my head stops spinning," SWS answered, leaning back in bed.  
Spoony looked less than convinced, "You swear you don't feel anything like confusion or dizziness?"  
SWS sighed, "I swear, I don't have a concussion."  
Seeing that Spoony still looked concerned, Insano spoke up, "Spoony, just come to bed. Soi and Oreo are already asleep so you don't have to worry about that."  
"How!? You guys are injured and I still have a review to film and-!"  
"And you're currently all over the place mentally," Insano interrupted. "You need sleep just as much as we do right now."  
"But-" Spoony was interrupted once again as both of his boyfriends tugged him down onto the bed.  
"Insano's right, we both know that Spoony," SWS said, trying to stifle a yawn. "Besides, we're just as worried about you as you are about us. So, stay."

8\. Horror

  
Beneath the stars of the quiet night, Wayne was sitting outside. His thoughts raced back to his home dimension, refusing to give him any kind of peace at the moment. Squeezing his eyes shut, he shook his head, trying to clear his mind of the images that flashed by. He felt like he was going crazy and he needed to find someone to talk to. Sure, there was Oscar but there was also some things that Wayne was not yet ready to tell his brother. The more horrific details, he couldn't tell Oscar that, not when he himself was struggling to deal with them.

  
_**"HAHAHAHAHA!"** _

  
Startled, Wayne jumped to his feet and turned around, coming face to face with a pale man wearing a black hat and cape. He reached for his pistol, only to realize that the holster was empty. Smirking, the pale man held up the gun in one hand and the bullets in the other. "Looking for this, my child? You really should be more careful, you could make someone drop dead with a gun."

  
Wayne stared at the stranger and growled, "One, that joke was bad. Two, who the hell are you? And three, I'm not a child, let alone yours."  
The man simply laughed once more, "Me? I am Moarte! I am the keeper of the fabled Longbox of the Damned! Well, granted I'm more so cursed to watch over it but still, now you know who I am. And I'm already well aware of who you are, Wayne. Your brother speaks fondly of you."  
"Somehow, I doubt my brother would talk to a guy like you..."  
Moarte shrugged his shoulders, "Well, considering who else lives in this apartment that he's on speaking terms with..."

  
Wayne started to calm down somewhat, sensing no imminent danger at the moment. "I suppose you got a point. So what do you want anyway? What are you for that matter?"  
"Why, I'm a ghoul of course! Neither living nor dead! As for what I want, I figured you'd be a good person to chat with. After all, you lived through an apocalyptic event, surely you must have some delightfully horrific stories to share!"  
Eyeing him wearily at that, Wayne sat back down and motioned for Moarte to sit as well. "Delightful isn't the word I'd use at all, but... I do need someone to talk to, who I know can handle it..."

9.  It's all in vain, I did my best (All of Me - Sins of a Divine Mother)

  
"I had to go on several scavenging trips to find supplies. A few times, I ran into people...people who hadn't lost their minds. They were trying to find places to hide, in hopes of riding the whole thing out. Every time, I'd let them tag along and every time...  
"They died?" Moarte guessed.  
"Putting it bluntly, yes. Some were already injured and succumbed to their wounds, despite doing my best to take care of them. Bullet and stab wounds can only be healed so much without proper medical attention. Others...they were uninjured when I found them but always... _always_ something would happen before we found shelter.  
Whether it be a shot to the head or a group of blood-crazed lunatics with knives and pipes, they would always be killed. I tried my damn hardest to save them...but at the end, it didn't matter. Almost always, I'd heard one of them yell something to the effect of 'save yourself'...so I did. Eventually, I just stopped helping the people I'd come across. At most, I'd tell them what areas to avoid but otherwise, I left them alone. It wasn't worth it at that point. I tried to save people but I'm no hero. I was just a desperate scientist trying to survive."

  
Moarte was silent as he took in the story Wayne had just told. Normally, he'd take delight in a horrific story but the other man's guilty tone bugged him. Comforting someone was nowhere near something the ghoul was used to doing; it didn't stop the words from being spoken though. "No, you were simply one person who was thrown into something you never expected to happen, my child."  
"What?"  
"Anyone in your position would react the same way. You tried to do good in a world gone mad and met with failure. You started to feel guilty even though there was nothing you could do. No one would blame you except for yourself."

10\. Couldn't walk away from something broken (Broken - Sins of a Divine Mother)

  
Back in Moarte's domain, which was really just a basement and Halloween decorations, the ghoul was looking through the Longbox. Or rather, he was trying to but his thoughts kept distracting him.

  
_'Blah! If anyone from the underworld found out I took pity on a human, I'd be the laughingstock for centuries!'_

  
Still, something kept pulling at him, a feeling that the ghoul couldn't place.

  
_'Ugh. I think I've been stuck around Linkara and his team for too long.'_

  
That had to be it, he reasoned. There was no way he was losing his edge, no way he'd start genuienly caring about humans. Although, there was that girl inhabiting the magic gun that Moarte enjoyed talking to when he had the chance. There was also the whole Entity fiasco, if anyone had bothered to tell him what the hell was going on at the time, he probably would have offered to help Linkara in some way...

  
_'Gah! No! No! No! I don't care about humans! I haven't cared about humanity ever since my own was stolen from me! All I need is to focus on keeping guard over the Longbox!'_

11\. Tried to find a way to make it good again (Broken - Sins of a Divine Mother)

  
"Critic, would you just sit down and think for a moment?!" Linkara yelled at him while Spoony looked rather bored. At TOG's behest, the two had agreed to try and talk sense into his brother.  
Critic scowled at the two people standing before him. "I have thought! I've thought enough to realize that there's no way anyone should have found out about the dynamite!"  
Spoony raised an eyebrow while Linkara gave Critic an exasperated look, "You're still going on about that?"  
"Yes I am, Linkara!" Critic yelled, pointing his finger into the air, "And I found out who swiped the receipt that ultimately led to my beautiful micro-nation's downfall!"

  
Spoony rolled his eyes at the over dramatic antics of the former president, "Oh yeah? Who was it? ATG?"  
"At first, I thought it was him in an act of sabotage, or even the Nerd for that mater. But it wasn't! It was Max!"  
Linkara looked at him confused, "Max? Who-?"  
Spoony spoke up, looking less than thrilled at Critc, "Really Critic? SWS never said anything about being involved in that. If this is your way to get back at him for what happened after the fact-"  
"It's the damn truth, Spoony! I kept that damn paper hidden and only two people knew about its existence, other than myself! That was Film Brain and Max! And Max was the first of the two to betray me!"  
Linkara sighed, clearly annoyed by this argument, "Critic, what happened to you? Before this stupid Kickassia idea, you were...well, I wouldn't say good, but you were a decent enough person. Now it's like someone flipped a switch and you've become this childish, wannabe dictator."

12\. 'Cause I hate the way I feel tonight (The Way I Feel - 12 Stones)

  
"Well, I must say Critic, that was quite a spectacle earlier."

  
Critic groaned as he took another drink from his bottle of booze. "The hell do you want?" He mentally noted that ATG had that damned smug smirk on his face. This was not turning out to be a good night.  
"Now, now, Critic, is that any way to greet me?" ATG asked.  
"All of my friends are pissed off at me, TOG won't stop nagging me about how I need to calm down and take a break from everything, and now all I want to do is drink until I pass out but I can't even do that because you're here." Critic complained as he slumped down into the chair, looking as miserable as he felt.

  
ATG's smirk never left his face. This little "plan" of his was working out just fine. "Come now Critic, use that brain of yours. If they really were your friends, would they have turned against you in the first place?"  
"...They said they did that because it was for the good of everyone..."  
"Everyone, except for you that is, my dear Critic," ATG replied. "Think harder. You lost everything you worked for up to that point. You _tried_ to get them to see reason regardless but they still refused to listen."  
Critic took another drink before he spoke, starting to feel drowsy. "...Not everything. Still got my job, my house-"  
ATG's smirk grew, "All based on materialistic desires. Who do you have that will listen to you?"

  
"I got my fans and TOG..."  
"Your fans are faceless people over the internet who merely want content to consume. And TOG? Well, you saw for yourself tonight. He was the one who called over Spoony and Linkara, he clearly takes their side in regards to everything." ATG took the half-empty bottle from Critic and took a sip from it. "Who does that leave you with?"  
"...No one, except for-"  
" _Me_. That's right Critic," ATG interrupted, "I'm the only one you have left. But don't you worry your pretty little head. _I'm not going anywhere_. Now, why don't you head off to bed? You look like you're about to pass out any moment now."

 -Fin


End file.
